Forum:Guide to Naming Japanese Vocaloids


 * This was originally presented on the "Vocaloid Wiki talk:Fanmade Vocaloid Creation Guide", it has been copied to Fanloid Wiki as a helpful guide for the community. It is not necessary to leave comments here, but if you have additional helpful information similar to what is presented, then feel free to comment below.

Guide to Naming Japanese Vocaloids
I wrote this rather impulsively based on what little experience I have with the language... then I worried that this might exacerbate people making crummy rushed names, so I decided to put it here for criticism first. Assumes basic knowledge of Hiragana, Katakana, and On vs Kun readings.

Firstly, overall name. This depends on the "style" of your Vocaloid. You may have a rather original character, such as 'Riza Sotone' or 'Neru Akita'. Alternately you may have a character more explicitly based off of a pre-existing Vocaloid, like the 'Voyakloids' and 'Genderbent Vocaloids', as well as pitch-change vocaloids like 'Miku Zatsune', 'Miku Hachune', 'Tako Luka', etc etc etc.

If your character is pre-existing, half of your work is done already. The name will almost definitely be a pun off of the existing name. This can be difficult for those unfamiliar with the Japanese language. An advised technique: Pick the desired meaning (e.g. I want a "blue" Rin Kagamine), then look for words that sound similar. A possibility: 紺髪音 ハン Konkamine Han. In order: Navy blue - hair - sound - han (playing off of 畔, "near the water"). You would probably put more effort into a name than I have. That took only five minutes.

However, this alludes to a problem even worse for original characters: What reading do you use? There's no right answer to that question. Technically it could be whatever you say it is, within reason. Some suggestions:

- As you must have gathered right now, most Vocaloids have names ending in "-ne" (音), meaning "sound". Generally a Vocaloid's surname should consist of two to three characters, probably two. - If you are going to use two or more kanji that are not 音, you should be very careful to make sure there is no additional meaning when you put them together. For instance, you might see "合", to combine (in some contexts), and "百", a hundred, and decide to have "百合音", thinking it means "combining 100 sounds", implying a harmonious voice. But 百合 in fact has the special reading yuri, a word with which I am sure you are familiar! -Using a combination of two kanji that you do not see documented anywhere, you will probably use the ordinary reading perhaps applying rendaku if deemed necessary. Again, be VERY careful when combining kanji. -If you are going to use just one kanji + 音, I would recommend using the kun reading, as long as it is independent of okurigana. So 雪音 would most likely be Yukine (snow sound), 綿音 Watane (cotton sound), and so on. The majority of Vocaloids follow this pattern. Sakine, Kagamine, Hatsune are all single-word kun readings. -There are however many kanji where there is no reading without okurigana. For this, you will have to tread very carefully. How to deal with this is a puzzling matter. Examples include Megurine -- 巡る meguru is a verb with the noun form 巡り meguri. The noun is condensed into one word. A similar example is 話し turning into 'hanashi' with only the first kanji. If you have a verb for your base, you COULD do this. Yowane Haku is formed from 弱い yowai, and just drops the i. Generally form new readings like this very carefully and with the help of a Vocaloid fan more experienced, such as a fansubber. -If you don't want to make an okurigana invention like that, just use the On reading. If you do I would recommend finding another kanji with the same meaning and making a blank-blank-ne name. For instance 世音 Yone would probably not happen, only 世界音 Sekaine.

So now you have yourself your Vocaloid's surname. Yay. The first name shall be easier. Generally you take a word, and write it in katakana. Restrictions are looser, verbs and adjectives are less discouraged. If you can't think of one, try a "Japanese name list" (but go for not much more than two syllables). If you REALLY can't think of one, try a combination of syllables and see if it gets any hits, but do this VERY CAREFULLY.Lenga-chan 21:47, April 7, 2010 (UTC)

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